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Beautiful Borneo
Sunset on Sungei Kinabatangan 9 - 12 June --
The island of Borneo comprises Eastern Malaysia, Brunei and a large part of Indonesia. We arrived early afternoon on an Air Asia flight to Kota Kinabalu, on the northern coast of Sabah, Eastern Malaysia. The town was a pleasant costal small city, but a far cry from the paradise of Tioman or the sophisticated chic of KL. Nonetheless, we headed down to the market to take in the sights and sounds and plan our stay in Borneo. Made the mistake of checking out a local nightclub (hey, it was Ladies' Night). We were told it was called "Hugs". When we arrived we saw the garish neon sign above actually read "Jugs". Oh, dear. Inside it was as could be imagined, lots of Chinese girls, twice the amount of guys and a Karaoke band. Like with backup singers. It's funny how karaoke is a national institution in Malaysia. We hear it all day long coming from bars, restaurants and people's houses. The funniest part is that half the time, the person singing is slouched over in a chair and couldn't appear more bored, yet they sing their song, pass the mike to the next bored
person, and this continues for hours on end.
After some deliberation, we decided to skip the mountain hike up the majestic Mount Kinabalu and head south for a 3-day jungle trek and river boat tour on Sungei Kinabatangan, the 500 km river cutting southern Malay Borneo from East to West, to spot local wildlife: proboscious monkeys, long- and pig-tailed mcuaqus and orang-utans! Malaysia is the only place in the world where orang-utans live in the wild. The word is Malay for "river people" as the ancient Malays sighted them in the woods and due to their human-like form, took them for really hairy locals.
We spent 3 days getting up at 5.30 AM, going for a dawn river cruise, hot, sticky jungle treks and eerie dark night treks through the wild rain forest. The wildlife during the day was exotic and teeming with birds, monkeys and crocodiles. At night, we only managed to see a lot of insects, but they were science-fiction sized grasshoppers (about 8 inches long), massive spiders, pitch black scorpions, moths, praying mantis and night birds. Our guide Louis was a bit of a cowboy, poking trees and collecting scorpions that he'd then let run
Borneo Customs
Looks like they'll be friendly up and down his arms. He offered to let me try to hold one, but I politely declined as I took a giant leap backwards.
The trek was a great way to change th pace from city life and get up at dawn and sleep when the sun went down. On the way to our next destination -- Pulau Sipidan -- we visited the Gomantong Caves. From the description in our guidebooks, we thought we were in for a treat of stalagtites, stalagmites, pretty moulds and underwater lakes. Thanks Lonely Planet -- you're crap. In fact, the cave's claim to fame is the staggering amount of bats that live (and poop all over) the inside of the cave. We could smell it from 1/2 KM away. The entrance and peak of the cave were massive and impressive, but we quickly noticed that what seemed to be rain or precipitation falling from above was bat poo. The cave is also a huge income source due to the swiftlet bird's nests that are gathered throughout the year and sold as a hugely expensive delicacy to make bird's nest soup. Yuk yuk yuk. I wish I would have saved my ringget, but
Kota Kinabalu
A port town, KK is the "big city" of Sabah it was an experience in the end.
Our guides put us in a taxi and sent us on our way (in a pretty dirty state) to Semporna, where we'd embark for the island Sipadan, one of the world's top acclaimed diving destinations. We were ready for the beach!
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